Hey up!

My first week of university has passed by relatively painlessly, aside from fatigue on thursday at having to awaken before 6:00 to catch the train in time. Mind you, I’m used to getting up early. I won’t ramble about the trials of commuting in this entry, because that’s not what you subscribe to me for. What YOU want to hear is about the writing (or art)!

One thing I’ve been doing in the bulk of my free time is reading the work of a fellow writer. Richard Houlden’s a sci-fi blogger and author who has recently put up a Beta draft for his short story collection “Cartographer’s secrets” and has been looking for some people to give it a review. Obviously, I’m not going to mention what I thought here – that’s for the author only – but I would highly recommend that you look out for opportunities to review other people’s drafts about wordpress if you are a writer.Not only is it very helpful for supporting the writing community as a whole, not least the author, but it’s also great for inspiring one’s own writing! You get to see how other people are setting about drafting their own pieces – what changes they choose to make, what ideas they convey, even what words come naturally to them. It’s a evocative exercise, making you more conscious of your own writing/drafting process, thus improving your attention to detail.

Aside from peer reviewing, I’ve also been doing some other miscellaneous narrative bits and bobs. I’ve helped my brother out with making a “Micro-Rpg” – a kind of creative game you can set up on the day with a few commodities (I.e. cards, dice, paper). Many of these are fantastic creative exercises, especially if you go a bit off the rails. Recently, I was trying out the free guide to a game called scopicity to practise my worldbuilding – we spent hours playing our own bizarre world and then narrating the unique events that impacted them! I tweaked the game to follow the shenanigans of a flock of clover-stuffed sheep menaced by a hoard of gigantic mites. It’s certainly not meant to be taken seriously.

The full guide to the game itself is only £4 ($5), which is expanded beyond the version we were tinkering with – if you’re in a writing group and fancy a bit of fun, give this a try!

With luck, next week should see some writing advice coming up. I’ve done a bit of wider reading to make sure I’m not just spouting misdirection out my ass – I’ve got a really nice worldbuilding book I’ll bring up next book review. Likewise, you’ll be getting another short story this Monday – I hope you enjoyed the menacing Mrs Lake in the last one!

Anyhoo, sorry if this update wasn’t very substantial. While I’m at it though…

PROMPT 22 JUMPSCARE!

Daily writing prompt

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

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What a horrific turn of events! A prompt out of nowhere!

“What’s the trait you value most about yourself?”

Whenever people talk about their own traits, they’re usually referring to some avowed aspect of themselves – people WANT to think they’re humble or empathetic (Never trust someone who brags about being an empath), when in actuality people might percieve them completely differently. Thus, what I’m about to say here might be miles away from the truth, who is perhaps on holiday somewhere in Madras.

I believe, from a writing perspective, my eccentricity might be helpful. I’m a tad pedantic, you see, when it comes to writing and reading – I don’t quite have the same restraints as many people. This is particularly clear when it comes to adjectives or verbs. For example, People might be comfy using the word “Awesome” again and again, throughout all of their pieces, but I get sick of using it much faster and try to go for something different after the mere second instance. Thing is, I won’t just stick for a simple synonym like “Electrifying” or “Thrilling”; in accordance to narrator, I’ll be looking for stuff other people NEVER use regularly – exquisite, stimulating, frissionary. Yes, I’ll even start making up the odd neologism if I need to – Michael bay-esq, fornicatory, anti-dickens!

Sure, you haven’t seen many of the weirder examples in any of my stories yet, but they’re all over my notes and drafts! I’ll be sure to change that. More writers NEED to apply a unique touch to their stories. In an age where there are too many tropes to subvert and thousands of authors per sub-genre, we struggle to be successful on well-worn phrases. This odd word-play is a subtly developing habit of mine that I aspire to embrace: this is the sort of creativity AI will not be able to imitate in future. This is what will keep us human writers relevant. Get ahead of the game!

Anyway, we’ll see if any of the crap I just spouted is true in time. Enough of this update – go out and rake your gardens. Or comment? I like comments.

C-ya!